"... TO GIVE UNTO THEM BEAUTY FOR ASHES, THE OIL OF JOY FOR MOURNING, THE GARMENT OF PRAISE FOR THE SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS; THAT THEY MIGHT BE CALLED TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,THE PLANTING OF THE LORD, THAT HE MIGHT BE GLORIFIED." ISAIAH 61:3

Friday, June 1, 2012

I don't really know why,
couldn't explain it if I had to,
but it seems we are destined to be accordion people.

Not the instrument (No polkas, please!)

I mean that great big accordion of life.
The one that can stretch time and give you nothing much to say or do or talk about for weeks on end - but can all of a sudden reverse, put the squeeze on, and cram a ridiculous amount of 'life' into an extremely short period of time.

Yeah, that accordion.

Now, I've realized over the years that this squeeze zone isn't necessarily good or bad in and of itself.
It all depends on perspective.
And attitude.
And the type of events that are being thrown at you!

Take the last 9 days for example.

The fun all started with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic!
For Mother's Day, Joey and the girls had bought tickets for the final performance of the season -
Mahler's Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection"!
It.was.amazing.

This was the girls first symphony, and I was thrilled to see they enjoyed it! Although I don't think Mahler will be replacing tobyMac on the iPod any time soon.

Next up was the Center for American Values in Pueblo, Colorado. Located right downtown on the edge of the riverwalk, the Center was receiving a piece of steel from one of the Trade Towers that fell on 9/11.
Over 7,000 people attended the dedication!Watch a portion of the dedication ceremony here.

Following the ceremony was a concert given by the Lt. Dan Band!
I'm not sure if you are familiar with actor Gary Sinise -

but he has been an incredible friend to our military - and I am a huge fan!

The concert was awesome! Any band who can cover 'Purple Haze' and 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' in a single concert - and do them well - is ok by me!
Shelby and Maddie, who are 70's music fans by the way, went nuts when they started in on Earth, Wind and Fire!

Wednesday night was our next big to-do. The girls had finished another year of AWANA and we were off to the awards ceremony!

Five moves in five years and they've still managed to keep up the pace!
So proud of all their hard work!

Finally the weekend. Joey and 9 other Airborne soldiers from Ft. Carson were asked to march in the Memorial day parade.
It was held in Commerce City, just outside of Denver, and at just under two hours - it was the biggest Memorial Day parade I've ever seen!

Thousands of people, perfect weather, and one daddy racking up the cool points from his daughters for being front and center in such a huge production!

We finished all this off with one of those "why not!" kind of things!
We were already in Denver, why not drive just a little further and check out Mount Evans - the highest paved road in the U.S.!
It was breathtaking. So worth the trip!

Echo Lake, half way to the summit.

Um, yeah, don't look down.

Friend we met at the top!

View of the Continental Divide from the summit.

Yep, it was an extremely busy 9 days!
But we had fun. We made memories. And it was all worth it.

Now we can settle in to this weeks stretch of nothing! Nothing on the calendar until Sunday!

Sunday.

Sunday we have Joeys mom and 5 other family members coming to stay the week.
My mom and dad will be with us the two weeks after that.
Then Joe has to get ready for . . .